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Amps for 12 volt tire inflation pump Answered

I'm trying to attach an AC adapter to a 12-volt tire inflation pump (the kind that plugs into your car's cigarette lighter), then convert it into a vacuum pump for degassing molds. I tried connecting the only 12 volt wall wart I have and it just barely got the motor moving. I'm guessing that the amperage of the adapter is too low. What sort of amps would this unit need to run correctly? Is it even possible to run this thing from a wall outlet?

4 Replies

Open up the lighter plug on the pump and see what size fuse it has in it. Whatever the amperage rating on that fuse is you can bet the pump will pull less than that so buying a wall adapter that outputs the same amperage as that fuse will cover your needs.

Most wall warts for electronics are usually under an amp. Is there any marking near the power cord of your inflator that tells it needs 12v at what amperage? The standard cigarette lighter can provide up to 10 amps or so like a wall outlet but the pump probably won't need that much.